I thought I would try to take advantage of a few quiet minutes this afternoon to catch up with the blog. Audrey has gone with Michael to pick up Uncle Dave - we are very excited to have him come spend a week with us to celebrate the holiday. And Lillian is finally taking a nap after wearing me and herself out, the poor thing is teething and has a cold.
We've had a bit of a rough week with us all getting sick in one way or another. Most of us caught the stomach bug that Audrey was kind enough to bring home from preschool, and then Audrey and Lillian have had colds. Thankfully Lillian is the only one of us teething!
Since I last posted, Lillian has been progressing so much. She got two teeth in one week several weeks ago, and now has her first top tooth coming in. She also rapidly went from trying to pull up and only crawling backwards, to pulling up and cruising around, and finally crawling as well. In the last few days she's even been practicing letting go and standing on her own. She's clearly pretty eager to be able to chase Audrey around.
Her crankiness today is really unusual for Lillian, it's just a lot for a baby to handle. She generally has a very relaxed personality and likes to take everything in. But she will let you know if she doesn't want something - she has already learned to throw things.
This week Lillian had a check-up and was lighter than I expected given her super chubby face. She was 19 pounds 12 ounces and 28 inches tall. Her stats are at 68th percentile for head size (all brains!) 62nd percentile for weight - and just 38th percentile for height!
Lillian has also started eating all sorts of things now. I'm still quite nervous about her choking, but she can manage cheerios and small pieces of soft foods. She is following in our family tradition of having an intense love of bread.
Audrey is also doing well now that she survived her week of being sick. It's quite unusual for Audrey to be sick - when I think back though, in the last two years I don't remember her being really sick at all. She missed school last week, and won't have school this week, but I think she is glad to have a little break. She plays at home very nicely and continues to develop a strong imagination. She is very creative and loves to do art and sing songs. She is very excited about Christmas.
It's funny because we haven't really been encouraging Audrey to believe in Santa, but she has somehow learned quite a bit about him. And makes up her own rules as well. The other day when I told her that I was wrapping her presents she became upset and insisted that Santa had to bring the presents and that "you can't play with your presents until Santa says ho-ho-ho." Thankfully she seems to have gotten over her dismay and is still just as excited. Audrey loves Christmas lights! She is excited to see them when we are in the car and we have had fun walking in the neighborhood looking at all the lights.
We are still working with Audrey on her letters, and she is doing extremely well. She knows almost all of her letters and a good portion of the letter sounds. She can also write well and likes to practice her letters - although she has recently preferred to write "important stuff" like me, and just draws squiggly lines.
Last week Baba came to visit, we were so happy to see her. We had a great time even though it was a short visit. We went to the Philadelphia ballet Nutrcracker and it was beautiful. We really enjoyed it, but Audrey - who almost never naps - fell asleep! She was clearly not feeling her best, but did see most of it and really liked it. We could see the orchestra pit from our seats and Audrey asked what the lady (the conductor) was doing with those sticks...and then Audrey proceeded to join in the conducting of the next song. We also met up with friends at the Longwood Gardens at an old DuPont estate for a gorgeous Christmas display.
Lillian enjoying some bread:
Audrey enjoying one of the children's garden at Longwood Gardens:
My girls:
Audrey & Michael with the official Philly Christmas tree:
Thanksgiving & Chess:
And some videos to enjoy:
